Ferns are the biggest and most diverse group of non-flowering plants, with about 11,000 species. Most species live in the tropics and many are epiphytes on trees. They typically have large feathery leaves or fronds which are tightly coiled when young, unwinding as they expand. Some ferns are large enough to be called tree ferns but they do not develop a trunk structure, the stalks of the fronds sprouting directly from a rhizomous rootstock. The reproduction of ferns is complex. Spores are produced on the undersides of the fronds. If these fall in a suitable damp place they develop into small heart-shaped structures called prothalli. After a further sexual stage, a new plant grows from a female prothallus.- Category ID : 422419
Information on the biology and cultivation of ferns; activities of the society including a spore exchange and publication of Fiddlehead Forum, American Fern Journal, and Pteridologia.
The ferns are an ancient lineage of plants, dating back to at least the Devonian. They include three living groups - Marattiales, Ophioglossales, and leptosporangiate ferns - as well as a couple of extinct groups.
Next to the flowering plants, the leptosporangiate ferns are the most diverse group of living land plants. Estimates place their diversity at about 12,000 species in around 300 genera. This page is part of the tree of life phylogeny project.